Pages

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Hello folks,Just a reminder that our Woody Ag short course is NEXT WEEKEND April 4-6. We do have a few spots available, and there’s still time to register! Details are below and on this year's short course page. It's a good time packed with information as usual– we hope to see you there.In other news, the plant pricing on the web IS current. Orders for most types of plants placed now are expected to ship by the end of June. As always, check this blog for any late-breaking availability updates.

Register Now for the 2014 Woody Agriculture Short Course: April 4-6!========================================================================Held nearly every April since 2006, the two-day short course is an in-depth event covering details of both the theory and practice of Woody Agriculture crop production. This course includes considerable information focused on hazelnut production, as well as some chestnut and hickory-specific lectures. Attendance is highly recommended for current and potential serious producers. The most up-to-date and advanced material is covered, much of which is only available here or through our consulting services.Stay for the field tour on Monday if you possibly can; potential field class/demonstrations include coppice, in-field cloning, gopher control and others.

“…The Woody Agriculture short course is full of important information for farmers, researchers, and anyone interested in a sustainable future. I was very pleased with it and recommend it very highly." -Eric Toensmeier, MA Grower. Permaculture educator and author, Perennial Solutions

"I know that you probably wanted a shorter, one-paragraph testimonial, but there was so much to brag about, that I had to include everything…"-Matt Nowak, KS Grower. Natural Resources Specialist for Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, US Army.Click here for more detailed testimonials.

If you're interested in learning more about the practice of Woody Ag field management, the theory behind our advanced NeoHybrid genetics, or long term pest management (to name a few things we'll cover), we encourage you to take advantage of this excellent value.

Hello, I am currently living in France and working for an Italian gelato company..we use Piedmont hazelnut paste and roasted nuts in the production of our different ice creams...I would be interested to know about your hybrid nuts and how they compare taste-wise to Italian hazelnuts. I see your products are available at Heartland...I ate there in August ( I didn't notice your products at the time)...I may ask my Highland Park based brother to pick up a packet and send them.

Kind regards,

Dear Mr.--

I'm delighted to have your inquiry! You'll be interested to know- and I hope, appalled, as I am- that your inquiry about the actual taste of the hybrid hazels is the first such inquiry I've received, from any quarter.

We do teach a section on flavor, and how to taste and rate the hazels, in our annual Short Course; so growers we educate are fully aware- but others not paying attention seem remarkably incurious- and they're going to regret it. Of course, these hybrids differ from the European.

Short answer - it will be a decade, at least, before I would have a hazelnut I would dare to offer to any European company, except as a purely experimental experience. I'm fully aware of the flavor, quality, and standards that apply for your type of operation, and we cannot approach it. Yet.

Incidentally; we do not offer hazelnuts for sale through Heartland - they do not meet my own standards yet. We do offer our chestnuts, which we can deliver reliably at the highest quality; and starting this year we hope to offer our new hickory-pecan hybrids; where quality is consistent and at least superior to commercially available pecans; but the hazelnuts, as a product, are just not ready.

The reasons for that are quite complex. Starting out with- the process of breeding a hazelnut that can be grown in the central US has not included taste as a selection criterion until quite recently. It couldn't.

As you are very likely aware, "flavor" is probably the most genetically complex trait breeders must deal with- at a guess, there are certainly 10 genes involved in "adequate" flavor, and another 20 genes or so responsible for exceptional taste characteristics. In addition to the many needed to maintain a healthy plant. Add to that the fluctuations in flavor due to annual growing differences- drought, wet, cold/hot seasons, fertilizer levels- and you begin to appreciate the complexity.

At the outset - we didn't even have a plant. Mathematically- the chances of finding a climatically functional plant; that also managed to assemble the 10-15 genes responsible for noteworthy flavor - are worse than vanishingly small, they are "compatible with zero", as it is phrased in statistics.

And approximately 100 years of amateur and university breeding attempts showed exactly that; F1s do not contain adequate flavor; backcrosses to the European are not climatically functional. It was necessary to first create a large gene pool of plants that are reliable in this climate; then those that produce reliable crops, and only later search for flavor once those characters were "fixed".

Without going into complete detail, which would tend towards the "encyclopedic" end of things; we've now reached our 4th cycle of selection, and taste IS a primary selection factor in that cycle. It has always been measured; and never been ignored; but could not be a primary factor, until now.

One thing we know about the majority of our neohybrids - they do not have their full flavor at harvest. At the moment, we believe it takes 3-4 months post harvest for flavor to develop. Then- indeed, many of them have genuinely excellent flavor.

But you'll appreciate the difficulties in getting new growers (all our growers here are completely new, of course) to fully comprehend storage requirements, and control them to the degree necessary for elite food uses- it's going to take years yet.

The neohybrids do contain excellent flavor - some of them. Some, definitely, do not. Which is not at all unlike the breeding pool for pure European hazels, of course- the public simply never sees the breeding rejects.

In fact- this is not a secret - we've documented unprecedented flavor types in some of our hazelnuts. Hazels that taste like - walnuts- hickories - the most extreme is a series of types we can only describe as "aromatic-floral". They're going to be extraordinarily interesting down the road; our spectrum of available flavors is much broader than exists in gene pools containing only one species.

Our goal is to eventually be able to reliably supply the culinary industries with excellence. We're making fast progress in that direction- when you understand the difficulty of the project. Give me ten years more; we might be there.

Please let me know if you have further questions or interests. If/when you are back in Minnesota, please come and visit us. I'd greatly enjoy showing you what we have, and where we are. And you can taste for yourself.

Yes, that's the title of one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder "Little House" books. This winter for us has been nearly the equal of the one she documented- in fact, when they report weather statistics, the winter of 1886-87 is one of only a very few winters that can match the statistics for cold and snow that we've been racking up this year. And since we live off grid entirely- with houses and greenhouses giving us a full mile of road to plow for vehicle access - it has slowed us down. Lots of our local roads now need a snow-thrower type plow to clear- and we rarely need that in SE Minnesota. 2 videos, then 3 photos, in case you want to actually experience it with us. This first video goes through an intersection with a mailbox (around 0:50), so you can get some scale. The banks are actually higher than the car... and when you get to the trees? No drifts, no plow banks.

It's not just a few drifts, in a few places- it's extensive.

This one is on the way home, later in the day- drifting up again. You have to drive fairly fast in order to be sure you'll get through the next drift. And yes, some of this is "white out" blind for a few moments.

And both of those videos were made- BEFORE we had the biggest snowfall of the winter- we're now at around 3 feet deep in the woods- you cannot move without snowshoes or skis- or if you're on an old packed snow trail. Out in the open- that 3 feet of snow has blown into drifts; also not easy to get around in.

Just a few more photographs here- to give you some idea. I've never seen snow this deep in March; in 35+ years.

This is a full sized 45 gallon trash can. We're not using it for trash, but to store roofing tools, nails, etc., which is why it's undisturbed. Before this last snowfall- you could still see what it was.

This is our porch. This is the first year we haven't been able to keep it shoveled off. The cats and dogs get their food (all from 1 bowl) under the round table... the snow around it is actually pretty packed by the critters.

And these are our two, expensive, "big dog" dog houses- which the dogs refuse to use. I'd think it would be nice and warm in there at this point- but they'd rather sleep on snow.